Huldra's Dolmen
by jkkitty1
Summary: Written for A Halloween Challenge on live journal Scrapbook as a Gift for Spikesgirl Thanks to yelizaveta52 for her beta work. Napoleon and Illya investage agents deaths and find problems of their own.


Illya stood in front of the dolmen, pleasure evident in his face although their reason for being there was dangerous. It wasn't often that Napoleon could see the pride his partner had in his country. They were in the Caucasus Mountains of Russia, near Tzelentzchik to investigate the death of two of their agents who had been on assignment there. The agents had been found dead inside this dolmen without a mark on them and no cause of death found. Yet the men were dead.

"You know these are older than some of the pyramids," Illya informed him.

They stood before the small stone structure. Peeking inside Napoleon noticed it was not larger than a small room with no back entrance or windows, something made him shiver.

"What do you know about these things?" he asked the Russian looking around and seeing a few others in the distance.

"There are many of them spread throughout the Caucasus. No one really is sure what they were used for. They are believed to be between 4000 and 25000 years old. Most of them look the same with only small differences. A unique type of prehistoric architecture they are built with precisely cyclopic stone blocks.

A questioning look from Napoleon had Illya explaining, "The stones were shaped into 90-degree angles to be used as corners or were curved to create a perfect circle. Although this one is round inside, others are square, trapezoidal, and rectangular."

"Mmmmm. What was it that Novakovic had scratched into the ground before he died? Napoleon asked as he peered into the stone structure once more a shiver going up his spine.

"Huldra's."

"What is that supposed to mean? It sounds Scandinavian"

"In this part of the world many beliefs cross of the borders. In Slavic mythology, it a spooky creature who looks like a beautiful woman from the front, but from the back like a rotten tree-trunk. She has very long hair, and her objective is to lure men deep into the forest and imprison them in her caves inside the mountains," Illya explain not taking a step into the structure either.

"Oh come on Illya. Certainly you don't believe in that superstition stuff."

"I did not say I believed in it. You asked what the name meant and I told you. Do you intent to stand out here forever or enter the dolmen to check it for clues?"

"Well I figured that seeing it was your country you'd like to go inside to check it out, and I'll stand guard."

Illya rolled his eyes, a smirk on his face, "Watch out for Huldra."

"Funny Russian, aren't you?"

Illya entered the dolmen with his flashlight gleaming on the walls. The walls were decorated with vertical and horizontal zigzags, hanging triangles and concentric circles. Along the back wall he saw stone breasts appearing toward the top of the back of the room.

With laughter, he yelled out to Napoleon, "This is something you would appreciate more than me."

Waiting for an answer, Illya became concerned when he received none. "Okay Napoleon, I am sorry for teasing you," he said as he exiting the structure gun drawn.

…..

Napoleon was uncomfortable in his surrounds and thought about joining his partner but the dolmen gave him the willies. A noise behind him had him whipping around gun out. A fog was coming from behind him. The coolness and moist from it began to touch him. A shape starting to form.

A naked stunning woman walked toward him. Her waist long black hair highlighted her beautiful deep blue eyes. Her body was perfect and her movements, poetry in motion. Napoleon started toward her his gun dropping on the ground. In the background he heard a voice calling out to him, but ignored it. The woman was calling to him, a finger encouraging him to come to her.

…..

Illya exited the shelter to see Napoleon walking away from him into the mist in the woods.

"Napoleon, where are you going?" He yelled then began to run after him tripping over the dropped gun.

When he looked back up, Napoleon was gone.

Following his partner's footprints into the forest, he was aware that there was no sound. How could a forest filled with animals make no sound? Even his own feet didn't create an echo. The mist in front of him kept retreating as he followed it into a cave. He could feel the evil as he moved along.

…..

He didn't know how he had gotten here but he couldn't take his eyes off her. Napoleon had never wanted someone as much as he wanted this beautiful woman in front of him. Something kept trying to break through his consciousness and divert his attention from her but he fought it. Glimpses of rotten tree bark tried to distract him; however her dark hair quickly covered the vision.

In the back of his mind he knew he was getting weaker and in pain but pushed it aside to allow this stunning woman to make love to him.

…..

The mist disappeared into the cave that Illya entered silently. He could hear his partner moans of pain and quickly headed toward the sounds. When he reached the area where his partner lay on his back in a bed of leaves he found Huldra laying on top of him drawing his breath in her mouth.

The Russian could hear Napoleon's pain yet the look on his face was ecstatic. He was running his hand through the woman's hair and also caressing the back of her head which Illya could see was rotten tree bark yet the American didn't seem to notice.

Seeing what she was doing, it reminded Illya of the old wives' tale about a cat stealing the baby's breath and soul. Could this be the way the other agents died? If so he was going to make sure his partner didn't join them.

"Napoleon!" he roared but other agent didn't acknowledge his presence.

Huldra raised her head an evil smile on her lips. She hissed toward Illya anger in her eyes. He could smell her decaying breath on him, and a hint of his friend's body scent.

"Leave here now, or die," she cried out. "This one is mine." She ran her hand over her captive's chest, "Tell him my love."

"Go, I wish to stay with her." Napoleon said in an unemotional voice.

"You leave now, or you will forfeit your life also."

Although it was difficult for his intellect to accept what he was witnessing, Illya mind was crying out that this was how the agents had died. No matter what, he refused to allow his partner to be the next victim of this mythological creature. He carefully approached her and when she turned her head to a groan from the man lying under her, Illya leaped. He dragged Huldra off his friend causing the American's hands to run across her back. Holding his gun toward her, he yanked his resisting partner up.

With a shriek and hiss, the woman was gone.

"Someday you will pay," could be heard on the wind of her passing.

Napoleon eyes slowly cleared until he recognized the man before him. He looked around trying to figure out how he had come to be in the cave.

"Where are we and how did we get here?"

Illya grabbed his hand pulling him toward the door, "Later, we need to…"

"Ouch, my hands they hurt." Looking at them he saw slivers embedded in his palms.

"Napoleon we need to leave this cave now, I will explain what happened later but we cannot be here when she returns."

"She is who?"

"This is not the time or place. We need to get out of here now!"

The tone in the Russian's voice had his partner rushing out behind him.

As they ran, Illya attempted to give Napoleon his gun but the slivers in the American hands made it impossible for him to close his hand around the handle.

Helping his partner put his gun in his waistband, Illya began running toward their car turning frequently to ensure the American was following him.

The next time he checked he saw the mist was quickly moving toward them the woman in it glowing in beauty causing him to stop.

"Do not leave me, you are mine. Come to me my blond Russian." a suggestive voice emerged from the mist.

Stopping as if in a trance, Illya began to lower his gun.

"Snap out of it," Napoleon yelled in the Russian's ear, forcing his partner to look at him until he shook himself out from under the spell.

Now both men ran across the river in front of them, leaving the woman on the other side, her voice no longer calling out to them.

…..

Safely in their room, Illya called in.

"Your report Mr. Kuryakin." Waverly answered the communicator.

"We believe that we have found the cause of the agents' death. It was not Thrush, sir and I believe further agents will be safe if they remain away from that specific dolmen." Illya began not sure where to go from there.

"Then do you care to share what it was? Or must I pull the information from you." Waverly was busy and was becoming irritated that he wasn't getting a straight answer.

"We would prefer to fill you in when we return," Napoleon bent over to speak into the communicator.

"Gentlemen. If you're sure Thrush isn't involved, I'll wait but you had better have a good explanation for this secrecy. I'm not in a mood to play games and you have a number of other pressing matters to attend to here in New York." With that Waverly disconnected.

"What will we tell him?" Napoleon asked his partner who was removing the slivers that covered his hands.

"The truth, what else is there to do?" Illya said as if anything else wasn't even worth considering.

"We'll spend the next month with the shrinks if we do that," the resignation in Napoleon's voice was evident.

"No my friend. I believe that when we explain what we discovered, this will be another affair placed in the File 40 section. We have encountered many things in our fight for good that are not able to be scientifically explained, and Section One keeps track of each one of them. Cone on, our plane will be leaving in an hour."

As they left the hotel, a mist began to flow toward them and a soft wind blew whispering in their ears.

"You are mine, and someday I will collect what I own."

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